Serendipitous

There is one thing I have come to learn in the last few weeks of travelling. Okay, there are many things I've come to learn (as you may have inferred from my last post) but one of the most important things I have come to learn is that more often than not the places that I never planned on visiting somehow turn out to be the most interesting. They are the places where I meet the most incredible people. Take Moncton for example: I knew at some point I'd be passing through but never planned on a lengthy stay. But, having my first hostel experience I met three amazing ladies that I never would have if I hadn't had this treacherous encounter with a few ATV trails and needed to lengthen my stay to get my car checked out.

When I crossed into the USA from New Brunswick my first stop was Maine. I had no plans for Maine. There were no outstandingly recommended sights that I wanted to see but I had a place to stay for a few nights and figured why not. It is known as "Vacationland", afterall. On my second day in St. George, ME my hosts took me to a little lighthouse and when we were there we met a woman (who actually stopped to pet my hosts dog, Sampson). We discovered that she is an artist from the area that was at the lighthouse because her and her husband, too, were showing out of town guests around. My hosts love art and it wasn't long before we were making plans to meet the next day at her art gallery. I must admit, I am not art savvy in any sense of the word. I can't name artists or their techniques at the drop of a hat but I can recognize talent and craftsmanship when I see it. The next day we stepped into Karen's gallery - she's a conservation artists from California that recently relocated to Maine that specializes in scientific art (http://www.karentalbotart.com/).

As I made my way around her gallery I noticed something that I found extremely cool. Under any major work, she had also included the drafts and sheets that she had used to make notes for each work - research, notes to herself - essentially her inner-workings displayed for all to see. I appreciated this aspect of her gallery tremendously because I could relate to it. I also appreciated that she let her art speak for herself. I, personally, find it detracts from a work if an artists has to include a description or explanation of a work. I, personally, want it to speak for itself, let me deduce my own meanings. With Karen's inclusions of what was literally her mental process of each major work I understood and appreciated what she had done, maybe more so than any other piece of art I have ever seen in my life - because I completely understand the process.

Karen and I had a chat and from her work I felt a connection to someone else. When all my friends ask me how long it takes to write a paper or a blog post or whatever the piece might be, I always tell them it's not the writing that takes long. It's the research or the preparation and with Karen's inclusion of her drafting and thought process I could see that her approach to art was similar to my very own and that I can respect and admire.

After Maine I headed to Burlington, Vermont. Yes, another Burlington (some of you may recall my stay in Burlington, Ontario). I was going to Burlington for one reason and one reason alone: I had found a couchsurfing host there that was willing to take me in for a couple nights. Kristina and her boyfriend Dave, let me just say this, are awesome. "Girl! You do whatever you want!" was Kristina's response when I asked (within an hour of meeting one another) if she would mind me purchasing some beer for dinner that night (we were ordering pizza). Not only did Kristina and Dave take me in, they bought me dinner, recommended places to go and things to do, let me have free run of their place since they both worked early, and ultimately made me feel so at home that I almost didn't want to leave.

Couchsurfing, I have to reiterate, is one of the most revolutionary ideas I have come across in a long time. Especially for someone that is travelling alone. Of course it helps save money (which for some is the most important thing) but for me, the most important and impactive quality is that it has allowed me to meet people - that I never would have otherwise. It allowed me to make friends.

None of the things were planned in my first two stops in the USA. None. Yet these people, what they do, who they are, and the chance that I would have the privilege to meet them is what this journey is all about. People using art to save species and to educate. People, students, offering up a place to stay to a complete stranger - FREE OF CHARGE - just because that is the type of people they are. That's what is right in this world. You want to talk about everything that is wrong with it? Look a little closer. There are people doing things that are right all around you.